With her big smile and effervescent personality, Brisa comes across like any other happy dog that wants to make new friends.

But behind that cuteness is a certified, professional accelerant detection canine, with a nose whose sense of odor detection exceeds the sensitivity of most laboratory equipment. Her job is to investigate fire scenes and sniff out areas where accelerants were used, said Greg Whited, owner of FireTrackers LLC.

According to Whited, fire scene evidence is fragile, and discovering the cause of a fire requires quick action. Important evidence can be lost or destroyed by weather, cleanup operations, or the passage of time. Learning the root cause of the incident is essential for prevention and recovery, especially for legal and insurance considerations. That's where FireTrackers and Brisa come in. They work mostly for insurance companies, but have also done work for law firms, agencies and individuals, and are always ready to work with law enforcement, he said.

Whited started with the El Paso Fire Department in 1993, and became a fire investigator and law enforcement officer in 2001. In 2004, he was accepted into the canine program and trained with his new partner Ben. They were certified in 2005 and remained a working team until 2010, when Ben was forced to retire, then died. Whited wanted another working dog, and his search took him to a breeder who specialized in Belgian Malinois, a breed that looks like a small German shepherd and whose strong tracking skills make it a popular choice for police, military and search-and-rescue work, according to vetstreet.com.

He needed a dog that wanted to chase the ball and bring it back to him, and was scent-driven, two important traits in this type of working canine. But, he also wanted "a snuggly dog," he said. "I didn't want just a tool, I wanted a companion. I wanted a dog that would be part of the family."

He picked Brisa.

"I started training Brisa at a year and a half. That is typical for these kind of dogs, as you need to let them develop their personalities a bit," Whited said. "I trained Brisa using the techniques that I was taught when training Ben; basically, when a dog with the appropriate drive is found, we redirect those drives into sniffing for the desired scent. This process is similar between narcotics, explosives, and accelerants.

"Since Brisa is a toy-reward canine, her reward is her ball, along with some play time. Obviously there will be some scenes where it would be inappropriate or dangerous to throw a ball, so that may be delayed until we can get to some place safe," he said.

When he and Brisa go to work, there is a pattern that they follow.

"If it is a general fire investigation, I have to conduct an origin-and-cause investigation first, Whited said. "If at that point I suspect ignitable liquids were used, and the scene is safe for Brisa, then she is allowed to work. This starts with a 'ritual' down, which gets her in the right mindset that we are going to work; then she gets her command and is allowed to run through the scene. Accelerant detection canines work with a little independence because we want them to go off from the handler if they detect an ignitable somewhere else than where we are asking them to work."

When she detects an accelerant, Brisa lays down. A sample of the area is taken and sent to a qualified laboratory. The laboratory then identifies the accelerant if it is present and returns a report, Whited said.

Brisa has found the remains of ignitable liquids as much as a week after the fact, long after they would have dissipated beyond mechanical detection, according to Whited's website.

Brisa, 4, has not yet had the opportunity to work any high-profile cases because she is a new dog, Whited said. She's been certified for about two years. Whited's previous partner, Ben, worked many different scenes, and there are more than a few people serving time behind bars because of his assistance, he said.

There are approximately 200 accelerant detection teams around the nation, with most coming from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Accelerant Detection Canine Program. But Brisa is the only accelerant detection canine in New Mexico and West Texas, Whited said. There are also several national organizations that certify working dogs. When he was a law enforcement officer, he and his dog were certified by the North American Police Working Dog Association. Now, Brisa is certified by the American Working Dog Association, Whited said.

In her downtime, Brisa likes to — you guessed it — wait for Whited to throw the ball, he said.

"If Brisa's in the backyard and she hears me come home, she will come to me with the ball in her mouth," he said.

Kathy Lawitz is executive director of the Doña Ana County Humane Society.